Hello, all!! ^^ I hope you’ve all had a lovely week and that all your writing has been faring well! Tis been… a slower week, in terms of writing, I think. But so it is with all things — there are good days and bad days, days when you write over a thousand words in a day, and days when writing’s not going so well and you just wish to snuggle up like a hedgehog and read in bed all day.
However.
I did hit a milestone in my writing recently and that is…
I HAVE HIT 49K!!!!!!!!
*does a happy little jig*
I am… most likely not anywhere near done with this book. But at the same time, now that I’ve hit 49K, I feel as though I’m close to finishing it. Closer, at the very least.
Even though there’s still much to untangle.
And I might need to rewrite the prophecy in my novel for the seventh time…
We also went to the cinema for the first time in years last week to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day (and no, I haven’t seen any of the other movies, so what? XD). Twas a splendiferous movie, and I liked it a great deal more than I was expecting to! ^^ Also, I couldn’t help but feel so sad for poor Peter…
Editing Isabelle here: I have indeed seen the other movies now! :))
(Alas, I do not have any pictures to share, because I did not take any. I also did not manage to save the movie tickets either, because my dad ended up leaving them at the cinema because he didn’t know I was planning to stick ’em into my journal when we got back… XDD)
We also ended up staying out much later than we’d planned (*cough* twas midnight when we got home *cough*), because we misread the run time of the movie. Who knew that 145 minutes is actually 2 hours and 25 minutes, not 1 hour and 45 minutes…?
At any rate, writing and Spider-Man aside, this post idea has been snurched from the delightful Phoebe over at Black Otter Books! I have been shamelessly stalking her blog this past week (because what is life without shameless blog stalking?) and came across this fun post that asks a question that is most interesting…
What do we writers do when we’re NOT writing?
AKA what do we do to pass the time when we’re not tapping away at the keyboard, utterly lost in a world of magical storms, curses, and all the thousands of things we’ve spun from our own imagination?
Truth be told, writing is a such huge part of my life. It’s how I process things, it’s how I work out all the little tangled thoughts and ideas that I have in my brain. Even when I’m outside, I carry around index cards — or a wee, smol notebook — and a pen, because there is always something that strikes my attention, that nags at me so much I can’t possibly ignore it — whether that’s a bird on a fence, an idea that comes to mind, or a random thing I’ve noticed. When that happens, I have to write it down. I also have a journal that I’ve kept since October, and I spend much of my time scribbling in that as well.
However, I still do dabble in things outside of writing, including…
Music
I adore music and the tin whistle is such an easy yet beautiful instrument to learn!! It’s Irish, I think, and you can play the most gorgeous melodies with it!!! I’ve been playing for almost a year now, and I love it. <3 (I have also named this tin whistle and she has been dubbed Silver.)
I mostly play folk tunes, music from Lord of the Rings (because how could I not?), and… pretty much whatever happens to catch my interest. There is something so wonderful about making music, and it’s a wonderful way to get my brain to stop worrying over characters for a few minutes. Though I still cannot read sheet music for the life of me. I learned most of these tunes by ear.
Chess
Now, I’m no professional. I am probably never becoming a master of this befuddling game. And I don’t think I would ever dare to enter an actual chess tournament (though I’d like to, someday!). But it’s fun (mostly) and there’s something so very fascinating about all these wooden pieces…
Forever destined to battle each other across the board…
Black against white…
…For the rest of time………
*clears throat* Anyway.
Much like writing, you can go from feeling like an absolute genius to an absolute idiot in a matter of ten minutes. One minute you have a brilliant plan and then the next, you have blundered your queen…. :’)
Reading
Obviously. XD If I’m not hammering away at a keyboard, then most of the time I’m sitting somewhere with my nose buried in a book. There is truly nothing better than curling up on a rainy day and being whisked away for a few hours to a whole other fantasy realm.
Traveling
We don’t travel full-time, but I still love getting to see and explore new places!! We lived in Thailand for half the year in 2025, which was so much fun — we got to go hiking (I wrote my name on a signboard at the end of the trail. Alas, I do not know if tis there or not… It might’ve been worn off from rain and wind by now. Oh well.), eat a great deal of delicious food, and see so many places that we wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise.
All the beautiful places I’ve been to (especially the beaches) have also served as some wonderful inspiration for the places in my novel! <3
Other random hobbies
Watercolor painting, origami, making character collages, listening to music (I swear, I cannot go a single day without listening to music) you name it. I also keep up a healthy correspondence with several of my friends in the US. Physical mail is so nice, both to send, and receive, and it’s ridiculously fun to be able to send your best friend a random thing in the mail. Like bread clips and stickers and paint card samples.
There is also school. Which I shan’t bore you with, as I suspect nobody has come to a writing/reading blog hoping to hear about my eternal struggles with algebra. Being homeschooled does give me a great deal of flexibility though, for which I am most grateful!!
I also like to just sit outside, sometimes. Talk with some of our elderly neighbors. Bake cookies. Sing. Dance. Stare up at the ceiling.
I suppose, if one really thinks about it, I do still do a lot outside of writing. They’re really not anything particularly extraordinary, but a great deal of little things that make up my life.
And it’s sort of the funny thing about being a writer. Even when I’m not writing, my mind is still woolgathering and snooping around in the world, slowly collecting bits and pieces of the world to tuck into the back of my brain to use for future writing.
But what about you folks? What do YOU do when you’re not writing? Do any of y’all have fascinating hobbies? Secret talents? A collection of peculiar objects? Let me know down in the comments! ^^ I love hearing from y’all!
Now, I fear the hour draws late, and so I must go sleep read one more chapter of my book (that is, the book I’m reading right now. Not the one I’m writing. Tisn’t in a readable state yet.) before I sleep. Till next time and wishing y’all a splendiferous week!
-Isabelle
P.S. This is not really a tag per se, but there are some writers on here who I’d love see do their own take on this! Therefore I shall challenge my good friends Journey Bloomfield and Hallie Kropf to do this! As well as the wonderful Lola Mae over at Lola Mae Writes! ^^
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